"We want to be the state's team. Maybe that's a little presumptuous,'' UMass athletic director John McCutcheon said of his team's move to Gillette Stadium, beginning in 2012.

Why is that presumptuous? UMass is making a bold but well-conceived bid to remove its perennial role as the afterthought of Division I athletics to Boston College in its own state.

Sadly, this comes at the cost of leaving its most loyal fans, who have trundled into McGuirk Alumni Stadium since 1965, thumbing a ride at the end of the highway.

Many will not make the four-hour round trip. McCutcheon knows this.

"I haven't heard a lot of negative feedback, but I am sure there is some. We have to look at the larger picture, though,'' he said.

"With every change, we won't make everybody happy.''

Without Gillette, the Football Bowl Subdivision move would not have happened. And without the FBS, there might be no UMass football down the road, if its current level of play collapses under its own expense.

More than a few long-time fans will likely skip the 190-mile round trip for home games. UMass is counting on its massive Greater Boston alumni fan base to surpass such abandonment.

The university would like an entirely upgraded campus training facility by 2014. But the days of campus football games will end this fall.

With Gillette as the carrot, UMass has realisitc visions of playing non-conference home games against some of the nation's bigger programs. Those teams could not find Amherst on a map, and wouldn't try.

UMass football to move up to the FBS level, new stadiumYvette Rowanstern, manager at Rafters Sports Bar, and a handful of current students react to the UMass football program moving up to the FBS level and into the Mid-American Conference as well as a new stadium that's two hours away from the UMass Amherst campus.

There are other benefits. UMass made $550,000 by playing at Michigan last year.

As an FBS and not an FCS opponent, similar opportunities will multiply.

Even for its Mid-American Conference games, UMass believes it can do better than the 17,000 capacity of McGuirk, which could handle the FBS requirement of a 15,000 average minimum, but leaves no room for growth.

Still, if Western Massachusetts fans feel left behind, I don't blame them. First, the Basketball Hall of Fame moves its tournament to Connecticut.

Now the Minutemen are going Boston on us. But if the FBS move was to be made, Gillette had to be part of it.

In the money-driven world of college football, the Amherst campus would not have been taken seriously, but the Patriots palace will be.

This will test the loyalty of 413 area-code fans to their favorite team. They must decide if their devotion is worth 190 miles and $4.20 in tolls.

It will also test whether UMass really can be State U in the Bay State, but it was a choice that had to be made.